Following the adoption today by the European Parliament of the EU-Cuba agreement, S&D Group vice-president and author of the EU-Cuba report, Elena Valenciano MEP, said:

"Today Cuba is no longer the exception in relations between the EU and Latin American nations. Europe has limited its relations with Cuba since 1996 with the so-called 'common position'. But isolating Cuba was not a good decision.

"With this agreement both sides win. We, the Socialists and Democrats, have always been interested in opening up our relationship with Cuba. Practically all the EU member states had bilateral agreements signed despite the common position, in fact the EU has been the main customer and supplier for the island in recent years."

The island also has a key role to play in international relations and in the region, including its vital role as host of the dialogue for peace in Colombia.

"We want to send a message to the US administration. Europe has a great opportunity to demonstrate to the United States, which intends to step back from its moves towards openness, that it is possible to maintain the highest level of exigency with the highest level of compliance. It is the Cuban people who must decide their future, always based on sovereignty, independence and freedom, which are also values we share.

"There are many things that we would like to change about Cuba, as in many other countries we maintain relations with, but it is up to the Cubans and the Cubans alone to make any progress, as we have done in our countries."